


Out Of The Fog

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:03:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4638432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John’s finally starting to come out of the fog he’d been in since Sherlock died and he finds the new nurse at the clinic has caught his eye. When she offers to buy him a meal after he ignores his breaks for a day, he realizes that perhaps it’s a good thing she’d done so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out Of The Fog

**Author's Note:**

> And I'm nearing the end of my "Thirteen Fluffy Fics With Thirteen Ships" challenge and I decided to write a ship I always tend to have in the background but never bring to the forefront, John & Mary. I really do love these two, so much. This particular prompt was inspired by a prompt from **imagineyourotp** that read _Imagine your OTP arguing over which of them is taller._ I had some fun with that.

He was finally starting to come out of the fog he’d shrouded himself in when Sherlock had jumped off the roof. It had been a dark place where he’d pushed everyone away, kept his feelings locked down, his thoughts to himself, tightly held close in his mind in a dark place where he could sit and dwell on them in the sparse flat he lived in now. He’d stopped caring, really, just going through the motions. A shell of a man, he supposed he’d be considered. An empty shell where a real person had been once before. But he’d finally realized it was no life to live, that merely existing was not what Sherlock would have wanted. So slowly, he was pulling himself out of his hole and making his way back to being a whole person.

He’d noticed the new nurse in the clinic. Well, of course he’d noticed her. She had a nice smile, a kind smile. Bright eyes that lit up every time she smiled. A rather bloody brilliant smile. Nice hair, too, if he wanted to focus on something other than her smile. But really, Mary Morstan just seemed all sorts of lovely and sweet and nice. He looked forward to seeing her at the clinic each day, seeing her turn that smile towards him. It certainly brightened his day, and he sorely needed that. Some days he even managed to give her a real grin back.

It was maybe two months after she started working there that she knocked on his office door and popped her head in. “Dr. Watson?” she asked, giving him that grin that he really was starting to enjoy. “Have you taken a break yet?”

“What?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” she said, drawing the word out. “It’s four o’clock in the afternoon, and you’ve been here since eight, I think, and I don’t think I’ve seen you go anywhere other than this office or the exam rooms all day.”

His eyes widened. “Didn’t realize it was that late,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He put the pen in his hand on the desk and then looked over at her. “Think anyone would mind if I duck out of here an hour earlier?”

“Well, you could,” Mary said. “Or you could wait until five and I could treat you to dinner for working so hard. I mean, you really should take better care of yourself.”

He gave her a small grin. “Yeah, guess I should. I can wait another hour, I suppose. Not often someone offers to treat me to dinner. Haven’t had that happen in a while.”

“I don’t believe that,” she said. “You’re too cute for that.”

He grinned a little wider and shook his head. “I’ve been pretty depressed for a while. Lost a friend I was close to, but I’m finally starting to get out of it. So this would be my first time going out for food with someone else in…” He thought for a moment. “God, about nine months.”

“That’s nine months too long,” she said. “But it’s understandable. So I’ll see you in an hour, Dr. Watson.”

“Call me John,” he said.

“All right, John,” she said, her grin getting wider. “And you can call me Mary. As soon as we get closed up for the night we can head to this nice Indian place I know and get something. It’s within walking distance.”

She left his office then and he went back to work. He ended up having one more patient for the day, but soon enough they were closing the doors and the doctors were getting ready to go home. He said good night to everyone else, and soon it was just him and Mary. He looked over at her as she put on her coat. “So what is this place called?” he asked.

“Dishoom,” she said. “The food there is amazing, and the prices are pretty nice. Plus it’s a pretty casual place. A nice place for two colleagues to get to know each other.” She gave him a grin. “And the portion sizes are nice. They’ll fill you right up. I’d recommend the spicy lamb chops and vegetable samosas with an East India Gimlet to drink and Memsahib’s Mess for dessert.”

“Can’t wait,” he said with a grin. They made their way out of the clinic, Mary locking up after them, and then started to walk. It was chilly and he pulled his coat tighter around himself. “Bit colder than usual this time of year.”

“Yeah, but it’s still nice,” Mary said with a smile. “And soon it will be Halloween. I’ve always enjoyed that time of year. It’s nice to put on masks and costumes and pretend to be someone else.”

“Eh, I’m a Christmas person,” John said.

“I didn’t say Christmas wasn’t my favorite holiday,” she said, nudging his shoulder with her own slightly. “That’s kind of nice.”

“What is?” he asked.

“That we’re the same height,” she said with a grin.

“I’m just a few centimeters taller,” John said. “Not much, but just enough.”

“More like just barely,” she said. “You’re not _that_ much taller. You’re, what, 167 centimeters tall?” she asked, stopping on the pavement and studying him, looking him up and down.

“167.64,” he said.

She shook her head. “Only men who feel the need to compensate know their _exact_ height. I’m just about 162 centimeters. So it’s a five centimeter difference. It’s barely noticeable. Especially if I were in heels. Why, two inch heels and there’d be no height difference.”

“But you’re not in two inch heels _now_ ,” he pointed out with a grin. 

“I bet you’d love to see me in heels,” she said with a grin of her own.

“I might,” he said without thinking.

“Well, if tonight goes well, I just might let you,” she said, walking again a few more meters until she got to a door. “Are you coming or what?”

He quickly made his way over to her and she opened the door, letting them in. Accepting this invitation for a meal with her was definitely a good thing, he thought to himself. Maybe this was just what he needed to reintroduce himself to the land of the living and move on with his life and be happy again.


End file.
